Fiat Is Praying That Free Track Time Will Make People Buy Its Hottest Cars

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It shouldn't be this hard to sell sporty and cheap cars, right?

We know that Fiat is having some trouble selling cars in the US. The 124 Spider, the automaker’s new roadster based on the Mazda MX-5, is hoping to remedy that. But FCA knows that a new model—especially a new roadster—won’t lead to surging sales alone. So now it’s sweetening the deal on its hottest offerings. If you buy or lease a Fiat 124 Spider Abarth or a Fiat 500 Abarth you’ll get a free day of instruction at Bob Bondurant School of High Performance in Arizona.

Free track time with the purchase of a performance car isn’t a new idea at all. But normally such an offer is reserved for much pricier performance cars. Currently Bondurant offers driving classes for Dodge’s beefy muscle cars. But the good news is that the track days for Fiat owners will be tailored to both the 500 and 124 Spider with the introduction of the new Fiat Trackside driving program. The first day of the course—and the only day that’s free—consists of classroom time to get acquainted with the Fiats and then a day on the track filled with all the fun stuff you’d expect, including hot laps and a runs through an autocross course. The second day consists of a 180-220 mile rally through Arizona.

While Fiat will give anyone who buys or leases one of its Abarth models a free day at the track it’s obviously up to the owner to get out to Phoenix, Arizona, where the school is located. That may render this offer useless to folks in far-flung parts of the US. Or it could give them a reason for a road trip (glass half full). Either way it’s nice to see Fiat offering buyers an extra incentive to step up to its Abarth models.